Potters’ Break Room Found in Central Israel

News August 1, 2018

(Yitzhak Mermelstein, Israel Antiquities Authority)
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(Yitzhak Mermelstein, Israel Antiquities Authority)

GEDERA, ISRAEL—A large spa and a game room have been uncovered in central Israel along with evidence of a pottery workshop that churned out wares for 600 years, according to a report in The Times of Israel. Game boards, including some for playing mancala, were etched into large stone benches at the site, which dates to the 3rd century A.D., during the Roman period. “We discovered a game room that was perhaps used for breaks from the potters’ intensive work,” said excavation codirector Ella Nagorsky, of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The complex was discovered ahead of construction of a new neighborhood. The game room included a cabinet that held glass cups and bowls, while the spa complex featured baths with hot and cold water. There is no historical record of the pottery workshop, which appears to have produced the same type of ceramics—“Gaza” wine jars—for 600 years. The archaeologists believe it may have been a family workshop that was passed down from generation to generation. They estimate that the site holds parts of more than 100,000 pots, some of which boast fingerprints left behind by ancient potters. To read more about artifacts dating to the Roman era uncovered in Israel, go to “Sun and Moon.”

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